JC Programs Safe for Now, but Future Holds No Promises

For intercollegiate athletics in the Los Angeles Community College District, a crisis has gone into remission.

After months of discussion and an 11-hour district board meeting Wednesday night, trustees balanced the fiscal budget ($216.3 million) for 1985-86.

Athletic programs escaped a Black Wednesday unscathed. They, in fact, will receive the same amount of money this year as they did last year.

“We’re delighted,” said Dr. Richard Moyer, assistant dean of student services and athletic administrator at Pierce College. “We have every expectation of maintaining our fall programs as planned.”

Other district programs were not so fortunate. Fifty-three non-teaching positions were eliminated by the $8.2 million cut.

Athletic programs enjoyed a reprieve. A month ago, they were on the brink of wholesale elimination.

In plans to balance the budget, the district commissioned a report to study the cost-effectiveness of intercollegiate athletics. The study revealed in August that the programs generate more than $3 million--and perhaps as much as $8 million--annually.

“We had been telling (the board) that all along,” said Pierce athletic director Bob O’Connor. “The problem is, we had been underestimating our profit.”

That is no longer a problem. Enrollment is.

Sports programs have no guarantee of adequate funding if district enrollment continues to drop. Attendance at Los Angeles community colleges is down an estimated 13% in 1985-86, bringing the nine-college district’s enrollment decline to more than 50,000 students since 1981.

Because enrollment affects state support, funding for two-year schools also is taking a plunge. The district is paid $2,599 per semester per each full-time student.

The district will receive $10.7 million less in 1986-87 under projected enrollment, according to figures released at Wednesday’s board meeting.

“All programs will come under review,” said Dr. Mary Lee, president of Valley College. “And athletics will receive as much review as any program.”

Athletic programs were left intact Wednesday, but a lack of participation has resulted in the elimination of some.

Valley College will not field women’s volleyball because of a lack of players, Valley’s Lee said.

And at Los Angeles City College, just one week after the district report proclaimed athletic teams big money-makers, the football program was scrapped.

“We try to treat all the programs equally,” Lee said, “but if one has extremely low enrollment, then, just as in a class in the academic area, we will cancel.”

Low enrollment cost LACC its football program last month. The team lost its final battle in the administration building after going winless in the stadium since 1982.

“Football might make money for some people, but not for us,” said Lou Hilleary, vice president of academic affairs at LACC. “We had considerable budget savings in terms of salaries, equipment, maintenance and filming.”

Hilleary said only 10 eligible players had enrolled at LACC two weeks before school started. One source said as many as 40 players were committed to playing but had not formally enrolled. It resulted in a misleading figure, the source said, and the loss of a program.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

It’s a gloomy--yet realistic--financial nightmare facing athletic programs in 1985-86.

Programs are safe for the fall. But there are no guarantees.

To balance the budget, the district made cuts from the nine schools. How the campuses meet those reductions has not been decided.

“Because the district is concerned about the future, we are looking at a variety of alternatives to minimize some of the costs involved with athletics,” Pierce’s Moyer said.

One alternative would be to require physical education instructors to become coaches for spring sports, Moyer said.

“We’re looking into the feasibility of that,” he said. “We’re committed to the coaches we have in place now, though.”

O’Connor, for one, opposes the idea. He said the long-term effect of such a plan would be a decline in participation and, ultimately, further revenue loss.

“Theoretically, that sounds good,” he said. “But when you have someone who is not fired up to coach, you end up losing people.”

And a loss of student-athletes means a loss of money and a loss of programs.

It’s a situation that frustrates some athletic officials, who believe programs are viable components of the community college curriculum.

For instance, athletes must complete 24 units in a school year to maintain academic eligibility.

“It is certainly true. . . .that athletes do carry a greater unit-load than non-athletes,” said Lee, a member of the California Assn. of Community Colleges Commission on Athletics.

“In other extracurricular areas (theater arts, music, etc.) it is possible to participate without having to pass the 24-unit requirement.”

Lee said she doesn’t expect to see other academic areas follow the lead of athletics. That is, no minimum-unit requirement to maintain a cost-effective program.

“Probably the only reason athletics is doing it is because in athletics we are very conscious that our athletes are students first,” she said. “We have that rule to ensure that these students are not just coming to college to play sports.”

To O’Connor, the bottom line is easy to see.

“There is so much that can be done,” he said. “We just have to look at what pays.”

At this point, intercollegiate athletics meet the bill.